Hippocampal connectivity predicting recognition and categorization performance

Poster Session E - Monday, April 15, 2024, 2:30 – 4:30 pm EDT, Sheraton Hall ABC
Also presenting in Data Blitz Session 1 - Saturday, April 13, 2024, 1:00 – 2:30 pm EDT, Ballroom East.

Kyla Brannigan¹ (kylabran@uoregon.edu), Lea Frank¹, Dagmar Zeithamova¹; ¹University of Oregon

The hippocampus is a key contributor to our ability to remember both specific experiences (memory specificity) and extract common information from these experiences to generate new knowledge (memory generalization), through interactions with distinct cortical regions. While there is support for distinct hippocampal connections supporting each of these memory processes, they have not been tested together using the same task. The present study investigates whether distinct hippocampal connections can predict individual differences in memory specificity and memory generalization scores on the same task. To test this, participants underwent two fMRI scans while passively viewing face stimuli. Between the two scans, they learned to sort faces into one of three categories, and after the MRI session, they were tested both on their recognition of the training faces as well as their ability to generalize the previously learned categories onto new faces. Background hippocampal connectivity during passive face viewing was related to recognition and categorization success. Hippocampal connectivity with the frontal pole predicted recognition ability, connectivity with the precuneus predicted categorization ability, and connectivity with lateral occipital cortex predicted both abilities. Overall, this suggests that the hippocampus has distinct yet overlapping connections to support both memory processes.

Topic Area: LONG-TERM MEMORY: Episodic